K12OS.org K12LTSP.org K12Linux.org Software Freedom Day - Friday, August 30th! [Note new date...]Free Software - A Cause for Celebration - Press Release For the last 7 years our local Linux User Group (PLUG - Portland Linux/Unix Group) has helped our schools use free software to bring technology to our classrooms. Now ALL of our students and teachers have email. Teachers publish web pages with homework and classroom news. Students publish reports on the web and use presentation tools instead of poster board. Our classrooms enjoy reliable and safe Internet access for research. We can collaborate with other schools and communicate with guest experts on a wide range of topics. We've established learning partnerships with schools around world over the Internet. Access to reliable technology has made us more productive learners and we're having fun at the same time. During this time we've enjoyed a special relationship with our local Linux User Group. They provided email support and they even came to our school once a month to help us with projects. They provided instructors for training and helped us modify open source software for our classrooms. We learned that even as our school budget was cut, we could do more with free software. Our schools save thousands of dollars every year by using Linux, an open source operating system that is free. As important as it is to save money, it's a different kind of freedom we've come to value more. The open nature of the Linux software code has allowed us to adapt it to our needs. With help from PLUG and others we've produced a version of Linux well suited to schools and it's now used all over the world. The fact that end users can modify and improve the software they use has produced a large virtual community of users who support each other and work together to make the software better. We've become a part of that larger community and in a small way have been able to contribute. The very freedom of the code creates in us a sense of responsibility and ownership that we would never have were we to purchase software from a proprietary vendor. That's what freedom does; it fosters ownership and responsibility. When the marketing department of Microsoft
decided to promote a new licensing plan by auditing schools in 35 states
for software licensing compliance many schools felt powerless. The situation
was different here in Portland. Schools here were able to reconsider software
they were using and the result has been a modest but successful migration
to free, Linux based solutions. When examining key requirements for successful
migrations to Linux, support is at the top of the list. The strong presence
of the PLUG group played an important role in the success of free software
solutions here. We want to say thank you to the members of PLUG so we're throwing them a party. On the morning of July 4th we'll get together and celebrate the software we all use. We're calling it Software Freedom Day. We also want help help establish supportive relationships between other Linux user groups (LUGs) and their local schools. We're encouraging them to get together and explore ways they can help each other. We are suggesting that LUGs all over the country get together with schools on July 4th and explore free software. Host Your Own Software Freedom Day
Celebration! The plan is a simple one. Schools using Open Source software
open on the morning of July 4th to host a software show & tell and celebration.
Work with your local Linux User Group (LUG) to help with software installs
and demonstrations. Invite other schools and the general public to come in
and see what you're doing. We're providing a few tools to help
you: Watch the K12OS.org web site for more information on school
plans for this day around the country. Download the PRESS RELEASE and use it as a template
for announcing your own Software Freedom Day. In addition to K12LTSP (Free Download) we are suggesting three great Open Source programs that you can use. All of these have versions for Linux, Windows and Macintosh OS-X computers. Just providing schools around the country with these three software applications would be a great service.
Hosting a Software Freedom Day event for schools in your city is great fun. Be sure and end early enough so folks can still attend other traditional events. Don't delay! Get the word out and start planning now!
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